Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Faculty Recognized at 2018 AACR Annual Meeting

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recognized many Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers and clinicians during the AACR Annual Meeting 2018, held April 14-18 in Chicago, IL.

Among the recipients:

Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, director at Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology and director at Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston was the recipient of the Second AACR-Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research.

This award recognizes a worthy cancer researcher who has conducted highly meritorious laboratory, translational, or clinical cancer anywhere in the world at a relatively early state in his or her career.

Jänne delivered a lecture titled: “Developing Combination Precision Therapies for Lung Cancer” on April 16 at the AACR Annual Meeting.

Laurie H. Glimcher, MD was elected as a Fellow of the AACR Academy, Class of 2018.  The mission of the AACR Academy is to recognize ah donor distinguished scientist whose major scientific contributions have propelled significant innovation and progress against cancer, and to leverage the expertise of the global trust of the Fellows of the AACR Academy to advance the mission of the AACR to prevent and cure all cancers through research education, communication and collaboration.

All members of the Academy are nominated and elected through a rigorous peer review process that evaluates individuals on the basis of their stellar scientific achievements in cancer research.  The AACR Academy was inducted at the AACR 2018 Annual Meeting.

Judy E. Garber, MD, MPH, FAACR, director, Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention; Susan F. Smith Chair; and active staff in medical oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; professor of medicine, was elected to serve on the AACR Nominating Committee for the 2018-2020 term.  She was also elected by her colleagues in the AACR Academy to serve as inaugural AACR Academy President-Elect. Garber will assume this one-year position at the AACR Annual Meeting 2018, and will transition to a two-year term as AACR Academy President at the AACR Annual Meeting 2019.

Michal Sheffer, PhD, post-doctoral fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Natural Killer Cell Resistance Convergence Team member, and Hugo J.G. Snippert, PhD, assistant professor, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, young investigator on the SU2C-Dutch Cancer Society Tumor Organoids Dream Team were awarded a Stand Up To Cancer grant to help reach further across institutional and national lines to collaborate closely on new research projects. The AACR, SU2C’s Scientific Partner, announced the award.   The grant is for “Studies of colorectal cancer patient-derived organoids to validate candidate biomarkers of resistance to natural killer cells.” Funding for this grant was provided by the C4C Fund, a family foundation, specifically designated for metastatic colorectal cancer research.

Utthara Nayar, PhD, a research fellow in the laboratory of Nikhil Wagle, MD, Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber, received the prestigious AACR Women in Cancer Research (WICR) Scholar Award. These are highly competitive awards conferred annually on 10 young women scientists-in-training worldwide out of an applicant pool of hundreds, by an award selection committee of highly accomplished and established scientists.